Virtual desktop implementations are increasing in popularity, and are commonly deployed via products from various providers (e.g., CITRIX, VMWARE, SUN, MICROSOFT, etc.). These common virtual desktop implementations rely on display protocols (e.g., MICROSOFT RDP, CITRIX ICA/HDX, SUN ALP, TERADICI PCOIP, NET2DISPLAY, etc.) that assume all applications execute on a remote virtual desktop (with no applications being executed on the client device except for a display protocol client application). However, this arrangement of application execution (e.g., execution of all applications on the remote virtual desktop) does not adequately accommodate critical rich media applications. With respect to media, the display protocols initially attempt to render video on the remote virtual desktop using crude bitmap video captures that essentially reverse the bandwidth reduction of a video encoding process. For example, an initial 300 kilobits per second (Kbps) video may be converted by the display protocols to a video in excess of 25 megabits per second (Mbps). In an attempt to address this scenario, the display protocols may support virtual channels at a session protocol layer, thereby leaving the media in the original form to be preserved and locally decoded on an endpoint client device. In other cases, the stream will be transcoded or transrated to be compatible with the decoder on the endpoint client thereby placing a heavier load on the hosted virtual desktop server farm computing and network infrastructure. The effectiveness of this approach is limited to scenarios that lack network congestion, have very high capacity computing, support media hairpinning through the data center, and have no requirements for local services like telephony services (e.g., call control, bridging or gateway functions) or Internet services/access.